Adelphi Hotel: RMT strikes over Christmas and New year

The national trade union promises a campaign of strikes at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel to protest against spy CCTV cameras, biometric fingerprinting and zero-hours contract

The national Trade Unione of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) launched its ultimatum during a protest in front of the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, last Friday 2 December.

“Low pay? No way!”

The menace of Christmas and New Year strikes has incredibly risen the temperature of the negotiations. Now the Britannia’s hotel has to decide whether to release part of its dividend of £35 million to guarantee a minimum wage to its employees or to continue with the hardline.

Waiting for a roundtable to discuss the future of Adelphi’s workers, the RMT has also deposited a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner over the use of CCTV cameras to spy on the workforce. The ownership has been accused of having introduced cameras with sound recording into the working areas, with the possibility of using them for espionage purposes rather than for security reasons.

The hotel staff is also subject to biometric fingerprinting control before and after every shift. Employees have to book on and off using an optic scanner which recognises their fingerprints and keeps record of every access.

“We totally opposed to that” explained Daren Ireland, regional organiser for the RMT North West, who led the protest in front of the historical building, once property of the Midland Railway company. “We believe that decent employers should treat the staff with a bit of dignity and not social degrading them with the use of fingerprinting”, he said to the LJMU’s reporters.

The protest at the Adelphi Hotel is part of a long series of actions and campaigns conducted by the RMT across the country, especially in London, where some railway strikes have literally paralysed the city.